Knox case co-defendant attends hearing

ROME -- An Italian man jailed in the killing of a British student in the central Italian city of Perugia attended a closed hearing Monday on the selection of experts to examine computers belonging to him, his U.S. former girlfriend and the victim.

Police escorted a handcuffed Raffaele Sollecito, 23, into Perugia's courthouse.

Sollecito and Amanda Marie Knox, 20, of Seattle, his girlfriend at the time of the killing, have been jailed since the slaying of Meredith Kercher, 21, a student from Leeds University in England.

Kercher, who was enrolled for a year of study in Perugia, was found dead Nov. 2 in the apartment she shared with Knox. Prosecutors said she was stabbed while resisting a sexual assault.

Knox and Sollecito were jailed Nov. 6, and a judge has ruled that both can be held for as long as a year while the investigation continues. They have not been formally charged, but the judge said there was sufficient evidence to keep them in custody.

The judge was expected to appoint experts to examine the computers of Sollecito, Knox and Kercher, lawyers have said.

Sollecito has said he was at his own apartment in Perugia the night of the slaying, working at his computer. Sollecito's lawyers have said that analyses on his computer show that he had been logged on, but prosecutors say police have proved only that the computer was connected to the Internet, not that it was used by anyone overnight.

Sollecito has said he does not remember if Knox spent the whole night with him. Both have given confused recollections and conflicting statements and said they had smoked hashish that night, according to court documents.

Rudy Hermann Guede, an Ivory Coast national, also is being held as a suspect in Perugia after his extradition from Germany. A Congolese pub owner, Diya "Patrick" Lumumba, initially was arrested but has been released from jail, although he has not been formally cleared.

All four have denied wrongdoing.